July 13, 2020

Yep, you heard it right: The Trump administration is doing an oppo dump on Dr. Anthony Fauci.

CNN's John Berman asked correspondent Mitch Landrieu what was going on.

"First of all, it's stunning, yet predictable," Landrieu said.

"Think about this weekend, writ large. The president has Roger Stone on his shoulder, lifted him up and trying to indict Anthony Fauci, amazingly. The poll you put up tells the tale. 76% of Americans have really quit listening to the president about coronavirus. Anthony Fauci has been the gold standard from the beginning. Of course he hasn't gotten everything right, how could you with this pandemic? But I think most Americans know that Dr. Fauci has their best interests at heart, how to keep them safe based on the science.

"And it's clear what the president is thinking about is his re-election. But the answer is in the numbers. The president's approach has really made us less safe, hurt us, put people's lives at risk. You can see this now in the explosion of cases across the country, because we have not done the right thing based on what the president's words have been. And that's just a shame, it's too bad," he concluded.

"It's more than a shame. The quote from the Washington Post, 'Trump is galled by Fauci's approval rate.' The president is galled by Fauci's approval rating -- 76%, the president is at 26%. That's the number the president cares about? Not the 135,000 deaths now suffered in this country? It's amazing," Berman said.

"Well, you can pick whatever adjective you want," Landrieu said. "I don't think you can find one that's bad enough for what the president is doing now. I mean, in the nation right now, we're facing not only this pandemic, we have an economic crisis. For those of us that are in the south, we're in the middle of hurricane season. These numbers are spiking and going in the wrong direction while what the president is doing is consistent with every day abusing his power for his own personal interests. And that's what this is about."

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